Improvement in



UNITED. SrA'rEsPAr-ENT OEEICE,

ANDREW JJMAEKS, or BEAvEE, PENNSYLVANIA.

IMPROVEMENT IN. FENcEs.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 197,875, dated December4, 1877; application filed November 2, 1877.

To all whom 'it may concern Be it known that I, ANDREW J MARKS, ofBeaver, in the county of Beaver and State of Pennsylvania, have inventedcertain new and useful Improvements in Portable Felices; and I do.hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact descriptionof the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, whichform a parthereof, in which-- Figure l is a front elevation; Fig. 2,aplan;

l Figs. 3 and 4, modied details 5 Fig. 5, a view of one of the groovedsills.

My invention relates to the construction of fences; and consistsinpanels of any form, having the usual top and bottom rails orstringers, but without posts, and connecting the panels by bolting thetop rails together, and setting the bottom rails in grooves cuttransversely in sills which rest upon the surface of the land, and thenfixing them by driving wedges between the lapped ends of the bottomrails and the faces of the grooves, or substantially as hereinafterfully described and claimed.

In the drawings I show two panels, made u of the top rails a a', bottomrails b b', and palings c, or boards, or any other known style offencing having top and bottom rails. I arrange the top rails a a withtheir ends alternately overlapping, either by constructing them atdifferent heights, or by overlapping bevel or dovetail. Down through thetwo ends thus lapped I pass a bolt, d, and draw the rails a a tightlytogether by a nut, e. This causes the ends of the bottom rails b b tolap, which lap may, if desired, be fitted by beveling or dovetailing, orotherwise. simply lay transverse sills B at such distances apart as thatthey will lie under the laps of 4 the rails. These have a transversegroove, f, with inclined faces, (a wedge-shaped groove.) I then allowthe laps of the bottom rails b b to drop into these grooves, and drivein a wedge, g, between the rails and the inclined face ofthe groove,thusbindingthe rails tightly and immovably in the sills. Another panel isnow added in the same way to those already erected, fixed in the sameway, and so on till the fence is completed.

To take down the fence, it is simply neces- I then' sary to knock outthe wedges g, remove bolts d, and cart away the parts to any desiredspot.

By giving the proper inclination to the grooves f, I can make aworm-fence. The top rails may be all in the same horizontal line, andoverlapped by beveling or otherwise, as in Fig. 3. The bottom rails mayalso lap in the sills, similarly as in Fig. 4.

Cleats or braces h may be applied to the panels, and any style offence-board, paling, or picket, whether of wood, iron, or othermaterial-may be adopted with equal facility, so thatwhile using the samemechanical construction I can build any style of fence, from the commonworm to the most elaborate and ornamental railing for a park orpleasureground.

Having no fastening but bolts d and wedges g, simplicity is fullyrealized and cheapness secured. 0n farms it is very valuable, not onlyfor general use, but for such occasional purposes as changing orlimiting pastures, inclosing hay-stacks, subdividing elds, 8vo.

Its construction gives employment for a farmers idle time in wetweather, and a practical knowledge of only the commonest tools isrequired in building it. The whole fence may and should be constructedindoors, and,

when completed, nothing remains to be done but to cart it to itsdestination and erect it.

vGround-posts being dispensed with, and the sills resting on thesurface, the fence may be erected up or down hill, on side hills or inhollows, over sand, rock, or loam, and will fulfill its purpose just aswell in one location as in another. The sills being two or three feet inlength, the fence cannot be overturned.V

It is cheaper than the commonest worm-fence, considering the laborinvolved in the two constructions, while there is no comparison ofappearance between the two.

By disconnecting at one end and removing the wedge and sill at theother, (the sill being pushed back a little,) a panel may be swung backlike a gate on its bolt or pintle, and thus a simple way of making anopening in the fence is secured for harvest-time.

It is to be particularly observed that the fastening of the panels atthe base by means of the wedge-grooved block and wedge or key has theadvantage over other known means of fastening in this, that the fencemay be arranged either as a worm-fence or perfectly straight, and heldperfectly firm and rigid, yet under such conditions that any panel maybe readily used as a gate and thrown back for the passage of stock intoor from the nclosed space.

Having thus fully described my invention7 what I claim, and desire tosecure by Lettersy Patent, is as follows:

The portable fence-panels, having their bottom rails separably connectedtogether7 and their top rails connected by a vertical bolt passingthrough their lapping ends, substantially as set forth, in combinationwith the sill B, having a wedge-groove, f, and the wedge or key g, asand for the purposes specified.

In testimony whereof I have hereto set my hand this 23d day of October,1877.

. ANDRE/V J. MARKS. Witnesses: THos. J. MGTIGHE, Tnos. A. CoNNoLLY.

